The second annual North Island Atom Eagles Spring Breakaway Tournament was once again held at the Don Cruickshank Memorial Arena in Port Hardy, with around the clock games taking up the entire weekend.
The Eagles started off the tournament on the right foot, defeating the Sooke Thunderbirds, the Sunshine Coast Blues, and the Comox Valley Chiefs, before running in to the Juan De Fuca Grizzlies on Saturday afternoon, who were also undefeated so far in the tournament.
The Grizzlies hammered the Eagles with numerous shots, taking home a 10-2 win in the process. The Eagles’ goals were scored by Tanner Livingston and Dakota Knighton.
Even with the loss, the Eagles qualified for the semi-final on Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m, with the winning team moving on to the final against the Grizzlies later in the afternoon.
The game proved to be an intense one with emotions running high, especially after a Blues’ coach was tossed from the game for arguing with a referee.
The Eagles struck first at 9:33 of the first period, thanks to Carter Henschke finding the back of the net.
The Blues’ Karson Turner would tie it up minutes later at 6:33 with a goal of his own, and that’s the way the score would stand until the third period.
In the third, the Blues would kick off the scoring with a goal at 19:47 to make it 2-1, but the Eagles’ Kyle Rushton would tie it up less than a minute later off a pass from William Harrison.
Ruston would score another goal on the powerplay at 18:54 to give the Eagles the lead, and then Knighton scored on the powerplay at 17:14 to extend their lead to two, but the Blues would find the twine at 16:17 and again at 9:44 to tie it back up.
The game ended up going into a 10 minute overtime period, where the Blues would ultimately find the back of the net off a three-on-one scoring attempt just 15 seconds in, giving them the hard-fought win needed to move them on to the final game of the tournament against the Grizzlies.